Embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems, apparatuses, and methods for the processing of payment transaction data, and more specifically, to the mapping of data between two data tracks used to represent cardholder and account data on credit cards, debit cards, and other types of payment devices.
Consumer payment devices such as debit cards or credit cards are used by millions of people worldwide to facilitate various types of commercial transactions. In a typical transaction involving the purchase of a product or service at a merchant location, the payment device is presented at a point of sale terminal (“POS terminal”) located at a merchant's place of business. The POS terminal may be a card reader or similar device that is capable of accessing data stored on the payment device, where this data may include a consumer's identification data, authentication data, or account data, for example. Some or all of the data read from the payment device is provided to the merchant's transaction or data processing system and then to the acquirer, which is typically a bank or other institution that manages the merchant's account. The data provided to the acquirer may then be provided to a payment processing network (e.g., a system that includes an element that functions as a payment processor) which processes the data to assist in determining if the transaction should be authorized, and assists in the clearance and account settlement functions for the transaction. The authorization decision, clearance, and settlement portions of the transaction may also involve communication and/or data transfer between the payment processing network and the bank or institution that issued the payment device to the consumer (referred to as the issuer).
When a POS terminal or other form of device reader accesses the data on or stored in a payment device such as a credit card, debit card, or contactless payment device, it typically accesses account data or consumer identification data that is stored in a standardized format. This data is provided by the merchant to an acquirer for use in processing the payment transaction, such as by generating a request to authorize the transaction. Typically, there are two formats or data structures in which the data contained in a portable consumer device may be stored and can be sent to an acquirer. These formats are termed “Track 1” and “Track 2”, and typically correspond to a first data format and a second data format. Track 1 stores more information than Track 2, and contains the account holder's name as well as their account number and other discretionary data. This track is sometimes used by the airlines when obtaining reservation information using a credit card. Track 2 is currently the most commonly used data track for payment transactions. This data track contains the cardholder's account number, PIN verification field, plus other discretionary data. Track 2 as well as Track 1 in some situations are read by ATMs and credit card readers or point of sale terminals.
Data read from a payment device is provided to a merchant's acquirer and then to a payment processing network, for eventual use by the issuer of the payment device as part of authorizing or declining the payment transaction. In most cases, the issuer is expecting to receive the data in one or the other of the two standard formats, with the format expected depending upon the location of the issuer. For example, issuers located within the United States typically expect to receive data in the Track 1 format, while issuers located outside the United States may expect to receive data in the Track 2 format. This can create an inability to process the transaction data (or other problems) when a merchant data processing system sends data for use in authorizing a payment transaction in the Track 1 format to an issuer expecting to receive data in a Track 2 format. Such a situation may arise, for example, when a consumer uses a payment device issued by an issuer located outside of the United States to conduct a payment transaction inside the United States. In addition, in the case of some payment devices such as certain contactless chips or chip cards, the device may only contain Track 2 data (which may be stored in a memory location identified by a label or “tag”). In such cases, a merchant data processing system may provide the payment processing network with pseudo Track 1 data constructed from the Track 2 data and other information on the chip or card, but does not provide the payment processing network with the actual Track 2 data. This can also create problems for an issuer when they receive the data and attempt to process a transaction authorization request or other aspect of the transaction.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to have a system and associated apparatuses and methods for processing payment transaction data that includes the ability to perform a mapping of data in a Track 1 format to data in a Track 2 format. This would enable issuers expecting Track 2 data to process payment transaction data in situations where a merchant provides data in the Track 1 format. Embodiments of the invention are directed toward solving these and other problems individually and collectively.